


prick me with thorns

by moorauders



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, hopefully with a good ending, i deleted this by accident for the third time so here we go again, okay get ready for langst-rock-bottom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-06 13:18:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12818358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moorauders/pseuds/moorauders
Summary: Lance hadn't expected to fall for his so-called rival, but he did. And when he did, he started coughing up red flowers.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so i spent a while on this after recovering it from my drafts... from August. It's a fic based on the hanahaki disease au which i adored for it's angst-y ways. anway, i really needed some platonic hance in my life so hey part of this chapter is based on that.

It was very late in earth hours when Lance woke with his throat on fire and the feeling of suffocation.

He clawed at his neck, urging for the ability to breathe again when a single, crimson tulip flew out of his mouth.  
"Damn it." He croaked, his voice suddenly like a deathly whisper.

It's been two days since petals had dropped out of his mouth with the colour of the same blood that oozed out of his lips.

He hadn't meant to fall for Keith. Then again, who means to fall in love with anyone. And yet, he knew that there was no chance that Keith could ever love him back; they were rivals, for crying out loud. with the occasional bonding moment or two, he seemed to had fallen hard for his teammate.   
When he stopped thinking about Keith, he cleaned up his mess with the bucket he kept under his bed and went back to bed.

  
  
"Lance, we seem to have an issue," Coran said, twirling his moustache in a slightly more depressing way.

He seemed to give Lance more of a pitying look rather than his rather spontaneous and fatherly looks. Maybe he knew what was happening.   
“What’s happening? Is it the castle?” Lance asked, his voice cracked and groggy, like an old smoker who never got to quit the habit. Coran gave him that look again, the one that made him want to stand up and leave the room.   
“The team has been wanting to know what’s been keeping you upset the past few Quintets. We know you haven’t been that well recently-”

“I’m fine.” He answered harshly, as if on impulse. He hadn’t meant for Coran, or the entire team to be worried about him. Much less, Keith. He wouldn’t say they were enemies, but it wasn’t exactly a friendship. Coran smiled sadly and put his hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“You can tell the team anything that’s bothering you. If it becomes a problem, it can affect Voltron.” The altean said, looking with more despair by the minute. The least that Lance would want is for them to be unable to form Voltron.

“I’ll tell you guys if anything comes up.”

* * *

 

It’s been a bit easier to deal with the flowers when Keith worked with The Blade. He didn’t show his face as often, and slowly but surely, it was like a weight was lifted off of Lance’s shoulders. Lance has nearly gotten over the sickness, fewer flowers showed up over the course of the month and he was relieved.

That was, until Keith walked in again, bloody and scarred, holding his ribcage which looked severely broken. The team looked very surprised as they stood up from their spots at the table. The black-haired boy had dried blood cover some of his face, and dried tears and sweat across the rest of it. Lance felt it for the first time in a week, the suffocating, lack of oxygen. He felt the petals rise in his throat, but he had to ignore it. For Voltron.

Keith…” Shiro said a horrified look painted on his face, like any other would be if you found someone you care for look like _that._

The team ran to him for a group hug, despite Lance’s strong need to puke up thousands of flower petals.

  


What _may_ be three earth hours later, the fascination of Keith’s return had come to an end. Lance felt the roots get stronger by the minute until he hacked what must’ve been two whole flowers. Tears flew down his face along with blood that tastes like metal in his mouth. Why was it Keith? Lance asked himself, picking up the remaining flowers before hunching over to throw up the last few petals. Why couldn’t it be Allura? Or at least an alien from a planet he’s flirted with before. Anyone but Keith, who he knew would never like him back. Negative emotions hit him like bricks as he slowly fell asleep on the floor, curling himself into a ball and forgetting about the leftover blood-stained petals that danced along the floor.

* * *

  


Lance woke up the next morning groggy and confused, several more tulips covering the once-white floor. His chest hurt like a thousand bees were stinging him in one place. Lance groaned, rolled over and sat up to see that Hunk stood in the door frame, shocked and horrified.

“Lance.” His voice barely a whisper. He didn’t say any more, but instead sat beside his best friend and hugged him. After what must’ve been ten minutes, Hunk looked to the brown-haired boy and said, “Who is it?”.

Lance sighed and rested his head on Hunk’s shoulder. “Who else would it be?” He responded, another petal flying out of his mouth mid-sentence. If he kept this up and didn’t tell anyone, he would end up dead by tomorrow.

“Allura?” Hunk asked curiously, looking down at Lance who was shaking his head. He could only think of one other person that could’ve done this to his teammate. “It’s Keith, isn’t it?” Hunk was sure when Lance didn’t say anything, but instead fell asleep again. Hunk picked him up and put him on his bed that looked too clean- like no one ever slept in it. He picked up the flowers on the floor and cleaned up the blood on the floor, leaving the room to find Keith himself.

“Is Lance still sleeping? It’s time for breakfast and it looks like Pidge needs to speak with him about something.” Keith said, his eyes flicking from Hunk’s worried face to Lance who peacefully lay in his bed, asleep. Hunk looked back and saw Lance attempt another cough so he sped out of the door and watched it shut quickly before Keith could see the number of tulips come out of his mouth.

“Lance is sick and I wouldn’t exactly want to go near him if I were you. It’s contagious.” Hunk felt like he was lying, but it was to keep his best friend emotionally safe. Keith looked unamused and said, “Whatever. When he wakes up, just say that he missed breakfast.”.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SO PRetty much this is just the effort of two days smushed into a chapter, beta'd by no one because of lack of time, but if anyone feels free to do that haha go ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this is a lot later than I had planned, but I got busy with life's schedule. I had a shit ton of homework and extra things I had to do, so here's one heck of a mess of a chapter I hope you don't hate. I really wanted to get this done for you so you guys are not disappointed in me. I poured a lot of my own personality into this so it might be a little bit ooc but really its just how i see these characters through my own eyes. I hope you enjoy it as it takes a darker turn haha its not rated T for nothing guys

As Pidge focused herself on her laptop as well as doing what’s needed from her, she noticed something off about Lance. 

The way he talked was slightly more sad and awkward and he looked constantly in pain.

The way he looked at Keith wasn’t normal as well. It was a lot different than how she remembered.

She remembered challenging looks that became playful over time, and now this, and she didn’t even know what the heck this was.   
  


Over the next few days, she payed more attention to Lance and Keith’s interactions, which was very easy thanks to her cameras she installed all over the castle (in case of an emergency break-in! she’d like to know who’s been touching her stuff anyway... like it wasn’t Hunk and Lance trying to play video games...)   
  


She slouched over the chair, staring at the blank rooms in monochrome colours on the screen. 

It was the same as usual; Allura, Shiro and Coran on duty and Hunk and Lance messing around with things they probably shouldn’t be. 

Coran was off probably doing strange things or picking up materials for the castle, but it really didn’t matter much what he did at the moment, she needed to focus on her current mission. Her head lay on her hand as her only support through this monitoring, which should be mentioned, was something she probably couldn’t do forever. After all, security guards take breaks too, right? 

  
Hours and many,  _ many _ coffees later, Lance separated from Hunk and went to his room, for god knows what, and stayed there for over thirty minutes. She kept an eye on the rest of the paladins, who, looked perfectly normal (as normal as you can be when you’re floating in space, trying to defeat an evil race of alien, etcetera etcetera...) until Lance appeared again practically limping his way out of that room, hand on his chest and eyes swollen. 

Was he sick? Was this some kind of flu? He straightened himself up the moment he saw Keith across the hall, he froze, took ten seconds to shake it off. Keith looked worried as he passed Lance, his eyes trailing Lance’s body as he walked away. It was expected that he should be worried anyway, they have had those bonding moments bring them closer together. Pidge watched closely and concentrated on the scared look on the now-red-paladin’s face as he approached the corridor.. then the halls... then to the kitchen where Pidge sat, who anxiously closed the camera file on her computer. She got up and walked toward him, seeing Lance smile as he stood in the middle of the kitchen, what looked like a petal of some kind trace the bottom of his lip. He obviously was not okay. She thought nothing of it until he spits it out with such a shocked face.    
“What’s up... “ Pidge trailed off, watching Lance start slowly choking and grip onto Pidge’s shoulders, weighing her down. 

“What?” Pidge yelled for Shiro, for practically anyone before rushing to get Lance a glass of what must be the alien substitute for water and handed him the glass. 

 

Shiro and Allura quickly came in, worried looks on both of their faces as they saw what was held before them; one very small, anxious (gremlin) teenager who has no idea what to do and another teenager who is hopelessly sprawled on the floor, crying for help. “Are you going to stand there and do nothing or am I going to bring in the one who started this mess?” She knew who it was, she can tell from the moment they locked eyes. It was Keith for crying out loud, the one who would always wear the same goddamned black clothes and pretend to not give two-shits about anyone but Shiro... but she knew he cared about them more than he thought. The one who would argue with Lance like an old married couple, so she’s got to be honest, she was surprised even she didn’t see this coming.

“What is this? How did this happen?” Allura said, picking up a loose petal that lay on the ground, flipping it around. “What are flowers doing in a human’s  _ breathing organs _ ?” She questioned, the look on her face both worried and confused, but something about it sparked her curiosity. Must be an alien thing. 

“It’s a disease that takes your life away slowly when you get unrequited love,” Shiro explained, supporting Lance up as he finished the rest of the flowers.

“Damn it guys. I didn’t want you to find out about it this way…” Lance said, his whole body practically leaning on Shiro.  

“Would you rather us find out when you drop dead in the middle of battling Zarkon?” Shiro replied, he looked rather furious, but Pidge could still tell he was upset. Lance shook his head and looked up to see a worried Hunk,  who covered his mouth with both gloved hands. 

“Oh god,” he said, quickly reaching the floor to hug Lance, who lay in the middle of this mess.

“What do we do about this? What do humans usually do when this happens?” Allura asked, turning to the three of them for answers.

“There's an option to get rid of it through surgery, but you lose the feelings you had for the person you fell for.” Pidge explained. She didn’t want to see the other way, where Lance dies, so this had to be the option he chose,  _ right _ ?  

“Obviously, this would be the option. We can’t just sit around and wait for whoever he fell for to fall for him, right? What if he ends up dead by then?” Hunk continued. He was right, we can’t just wait around for Keith to fall for Lance unless they came up with some super intelligent plan to get Keith to fall in love with his rival. After all, it didn’t seem so hard for Lance. Okay, now was not the time for this kind of thinking, Pidge mentally lectured herself and continued to think of something to do to not make her fellow paladin die out of pining.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was fun to play around with Pidge's perspective for a bit. I probably won't release a new chapter for a while because I need to do a lot of other things, but I might upload a couple of other stories such as ones for 12 days of ficmas! I really appreciate the comments you guys left for me last time and it motivated me to release the next chapter so yay you guys are amazing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I play around in Pidge's perspective as more shit goes down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sorry for not getting this out sooner! I didn't have time to edit this because I've been really really busy! I hope this is at least satisfactory!!!!

 

 She could convince Keith into performing an act of love, though real or not, she doesn’t want Lance to die, and she’s sure neither does Keith. But consequences for that are way too great if Keith doesn’t actually like Lance.

“Who is it, Lance? We have to know this if you don’t want to die..” Shiro said, looking down at Lance’s closing eyes as he fell deeper into the hands of this disease. _He better be just sleeping,_ She warned, her eyes enlarging by the second.

“It’s Keith,” Hunk responded, he looked down at his asleep best-friend who was literally dying as quick as peeling off a band-aid (which really could be really _freaking painful and slow_ or fast and painless, which is something this scenario is _not_ ). How Hunk knew this, Pidge did not know.

“Are you sure?” Shiro asked. It was too painful to watch him on the floor like this.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“We need to get him to the healing pods!”

“Where might Keith be right now?” Pidge asked. The team was to busy rushing Keith to the body to think about that at the moment.

 

Keith sat alone, the messiness of the one side of the room bothered him slightly and his brain wandering slightly. Every Time he saw Lance recently, he had resisted the strangest urge to grab him and kiss him. He had to make himself resist this, he wasn’t supposed to kiss his rival! Whenever he had tried to leave his room, his door wouldn’t budge and he’s been locked in ever since. He had hoped someone could come and fix this whole door thing soon. Especially since he didn’t have any tools in his messy room to fix it.

 

Pidge had furiously checked the cameras for that stubborn boy. There were three places he could be:

One, he could be training in the castle somewhere (But that would be nearly impossible because Shiro was just there and he would’ve said something, right?)

Two, he could have run away and joined the blade of Marmora again (Again, not very wise, because there would’ve been an alert and Coran would’ve said something…)

Three, he could be trapped somewhere, or worse, captured by the galra! (Keith being trapped somewhere was easily one of the most explainable ways out of the three, he was pretty much a tantrum-throwing toddler to her).

She checked left and right in the cameras, and he was not in the training room, not anywhere her cameras were placed. There were a few rooms she had never put her cameras: the bedrooms.

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate comments, as they help me improve my writing as an author, and help me make better fanfiction to share with you guys!  
> So next few chapters we hope to see some of that lovely plot development, and perspectives from other characters! I'll hopefully get the next chapter out in a week or,,, a few?


End file.
